The true value of this collection is in the immediate journey back and the slow rediscovery of one of gaming's greatest series. If you're jumping into the Chief's Mjolnir trousers for the first time many of the nods, tweaks and, most potently, quirks of the older titles will at best fly over your head or at worst tarnish your ability to play without cussing like a sailor. For these poor individuals, our score will likely seem overcooked, too. You just had to have been there. Those that were will know exactly where we're coming from.

Ultimately, these issues are small nicks in an otherwise intimidating facade. Halo: The Master Chief Collection sets a bar that other remasters and collections will have difficulty reaching, much less topping. For players new to Halo, who have missed any of the included games, it is a stunning introduction to one of the most beloved series in video games. For Halo fans, it's a package that shows almost as much respect and affection for the Master Chief as they do.

While I think I would have given up playing a Halo 2 remaster on its own after a few months, The Master Chief Collection will keep me busy for quite a while. The sheer number of maps, variants, playlists, and rulesets will keep me interested for months on end. I can already envision myself joining groups of friends who only like particular games, forming separate communities within the collection. Not only that, but this is also the perfect way to replay each campaign if I ever get the itch instead of finding multiple discs. This is the new gold standard for remakes. Well done, 343 Industries.

Despite prioritising out-of-place technical revisions over the series' chronological integrity - and thus throwing coherence out of whack with Halo 2's presentation - the freeform, mix-and match approach taken to the collection's structure is perhaps the closest we'll ever get to a real-world realisation of the imagined Halo ideal. Able to finally play all of Halo, take it apart, rebuild it, and remix it to our own tastes, we can now play both Halo as it was made, and Halo as it exists in our minds. That's a hell of a good thing. And whether you're a series veteran or an interested new recruit, it's something you should definitely consider exploring. In fact you should just do it. Right now.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection has a handful of quirks and legacy issues, but those don't diminish the achievement. It's a stellar collection of some of the best games of the last few generations, with options galore and clever ideas like Playlists to breathe new life into old content. It's a must-have for Halo fans, and may rightly serve as a satisfying introduction for newcomers.